Some cases of legal malpractice may literally unfold in front of you. It can be very disconcerting to watch your legitimate case crumble in court due to the negligence of your attorney.
Is it truly legal malpractice or do you just have an inept lawyer? The answer to this will determine the options you have for seeking justice for legal malpractice.
Not all attorneys are good
Even the bottom graduates of the law school barrel are free to hang out their shingles to practice law as long as they have passed the Colorado Bar exam. So, as with all other fields and industries, there will be attorneys of varying skills from which to choose.
It is a good idea to use recommendations from friends and colleagues when seeking an attorney to represent you. That can often tell you more about an attorney’s skills than the slick ads they have on TV or billboards.
Did the attorney lose or fail to litigate?
Every court case has a winner and a loser. Just because you lost your case, that does not, in itself, indicate that your attorney was incompetent, negligent or engaged in activities that could lead to allegations of legal malpractice.
For instance, your case could have hinged on a very important motion that was lost after a heated courtroom battle. While you hoped for a different outcome, your attorney tried their hardest to prevail. Sometimes, that’s just the way it goes with a subjective point of law.
But if you lost a pivotal motion because your attorney was languishing on the beach in Cozumel enjoying umbrella drinks and failed to clear their calendar, that is an entirely different matter.
Most non-attorneys would find it challenging to cite examples of malpractice in a given case. That’s why you should seek a case review if you believe instances of malpractice happened during the pendency of the proceedings.